Mo. House bill would grade individual schools

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri schools could start receiving letter grades based on their performance on school improvement program standards under a bill in the House.

The legislation would require the first school report cards to be distributed by December 2014. The grading would be done for every public school and for any charter school with classes beyond second grade.

Schools would be graded from F to A-plus based upon the percentage of possible points they receive. Principals could include up to 250 words of context or background about the grade.

The legislation received committee approval Thursday to advance to debate on the House floor.